Janet Hackert, Nutrition and Health Education Specialist, Harrison County, University of Missouri Extension
Sept. 14-20, 2014 is National Child Passenger Safety Week
Child safety seats and booster seats may seem like a hassle, but it’s important to know how to use them properly to protect children. Car crashes kill more children 1 to 14 years old than any other cause, so adults need to use child safety tools correctly.
Missouri’s Child Restraint Law states the following:
Child Safety Seat: Children under 4 years old or weighing less than 40 pounds must be in an appropriate child safety seat.
Booster seat with lap and shoulder belt: Children 4 to 7 years old who weigh at least 40 pounds must be in an appropriate child safety seat or booster seat unless they are 80 pounds or 4’9″ tall.
Lap and shoulder safety belts: Children 8 years and older or weighing at least 80 pounds or at least 4’9″ tall are required to be secured by a safety belt or booster seat appropriate for that child.
There are many reasons children need the protection of proper restraint in a vehicle. The bones of young children are soft and their ligaments are looser than adults’. They need the assistance of the appropriate car seat, booster seat or lap and shoulder belts to be held securely. These tools also protect the child from hitting or being hit by something or someone during a crash. Even during a sudden stop, these devices secure children in place, absorbing the force of such an abrupt movement and spreading that impact out safely.
American Agri-Women member Lisa Campion recently traveled to Uganda for 21 days as part of the Farmer-to-Farmer Program. American Agri-Women has partnered with Catholic Relief Services, who administers the USAID Farmer to Farmer Program in East Africa, as its first international grant program. The Farmer-to-Farmer (FTF) program promotes economic growth, food security, and agricultural development in East Africa.
Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the five-year program matches the technical assistance of U.S. farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives, and universities to help farmers in developing countries improve agricultural productivity, access new markets, and increase their incomes.
Campion is past president of Sigma Alpha Sorority and is an attorney with Martin & Associates in Barre, Vt. She shares this about her time in Uganda, “ Every day for 11 days, I worked with the Barr Orphans, Widowers and Widows (BOWW) Cooperative Society to build their capacity in leadership and management training. Over the 11 days, I trained almost 500 people, of which 350 were women. I learned that, in order to make a difference in someone’s life, you need to try to experience it for yourself, determine potential solutions, and then work with them to give them the tools they need to succeed.”
If you are interested in volunteering, please apply at http://farmertofarmer.crs.org/ as soon as possible. Once you apply, your application will be reviewed and then you will be placed in a database of volunteers. If a scope of work is developed and you meet the qualifications, Catholic Relief Services will contact you to determine if you are interested. Also you can check online at http://farmertofarmer.crs.org/ for new scope of work descriptions that are posted as they are developed. Current assignments include:
When it comes to managing limited irrigation for crops, research suggests pumping more intensively on fewer acres might show more value than spreading out the irrigation over more acres. ~ K-State Research and Extension
A K-State expert explains crop watering approaches and which has more favorable economic returns when water availability is limited.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Getting the most value out of irrigation water is likely on the minds of many Kansas farmers. As groundwater supplies diminish, pumping rates decline and talk of local water conservation policies surface in the state, these farmers face even more difficulty in determining how to best manage limited water.
Nathan Hendricks, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, recently examined how the value of agricultural production declines as water availability decreases. He specifically looked at two general management methods to determine which is more effective: deficit irrigation on a larger number of acres versus more intense irrigation on a smaller number of acres.
Intensive focus on fewer acres seems to have the upper hand
To answer the question of which is better, pumping more intensively on fewer acres versus less intensively on more acres, Hendricks said he first looked at the basic economics. The question only relates to those facing limited irrigation, not those farmers who currently have limited authorized irrigated acreage and can fully irrigate that acreage.
“The simple intuition is you first want to decrease intensity and maintain acreage if a 1 percent reduction in intensity decreases returns by less than 1 percent,” Hendricks said. “But, eventually as irrigation becomes more limited, you want to end up at an intensity level such that if you decreased (irrigation) intensity by 1 percent, you would decrease your returns by 1 percent.”
“The economically optimal place is where either reducing intensity or reducing acreage gives you the same loss in return,” he continued. “This is constant returns to intensity. Once you have reached this intensity, then it is optimal to further reduce irrigation water use by reducing acreage.”
A county-level data analysis of crop production in the Great Plains and Corn Belt showed losing about 1 to 1.5 inches of precipitation short of meeting the evapotranspiration demand for crops, including corn, is about the place where water hits this constant returns to intensity, Hendricks said.
Crop water need, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is the depth of water required to meet the water loss through evapotranspiration—loss of water through evaporation from the soil and transpiration from the plant. Evapotranspiration helps determine how much water is needed by rain or irrigation for crops such as corn.
“One of the key things that surprised me when I did the analysis is that’s quite a bit of water per acre only being 1 to 1.5 inches short of meeting evapotranspiration demand for corn,” Hendricks said. “It suggests that a pretty intense level of irrigation is optimal even when water is severely limited. As we’re seeing dwindling water supplies, it will likely be optimal to start reducing irrigated acreage relatively soon.”
To further illustrate, Hendricks gave an example where a farmer may choose to cut his or her irrigated acreage almost in half—say 120 acres of limited irrigated corn (irrigated at half of corn evapotranspiration demand) down to 66 acres of more intensely irrigated corn (irrigated at optimal constant returns to intensity). That farmer originally had 40 acres of dryland corn, but now tacks on the remaining 54 acres of those 120 acres formerly under limited irrigation, to now equal 94 total dryland acres.
“Before, you were only doing half of corn evapotranspiration demand,” he said. “It could be that you’re planting wheat to do that, or whatever other crops, but the idea is that you’re doing a limited intensity over a large acreage. What’s optimal, according to my numbers, is that you would more intensively irrigate, but you would reduce your irrigated acreage. If you do this, you could pay another $4,260 in rent over the entire 160 acres. You’re getting a lot more value by irrigating a limited area at a more intense level.”
Irrigators should crunch their own numbers to figure out when they are getting below this constant returns to intensity level, Hendricks said, and then they would likely be better off reducing irrigated acreage and increasing intensity.
The role of LEMAs and irrigation timing
Policy-wise in Kansas, the role of local enhanced management areas (LEMAs) comes into play, if groundwater management districts (GMDs) decide to establish their own groundwater conservation policies. LEMAs are water conservation plans voluntarily implemented by agricultural producers, and made possible by a bill passed in the Kansas Legislature in 2012. The first LEMA in Kansas, the Sheridan-Thomas County LEMA, or Sheridan 6 LEMA, is in the northwest part of the state.
“As people are talking about LEMAs, they’re thinking about reducing their water use,” Hendricks said. “How are they going to adapt to less water? How can they get the most value if they’re going to limit the amount of water? How will the value of agricultural production decline if they restrict their water use?”
In addition to examining how LEMAs could further affect limited irrigation, Hendricks said he would like to research further how farmers could time irrigation to get more value out of it. Perhaps they could reduce intensity more just by optimally timing irrigation.
Hendricks said he wants to know how much water farmers could reduce before they see a 10 percent decrease in water use decreasing returns by 10 percent.
“At some point we’re going to hit that, my analysis suggests,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure where, but that’s certainly a conversation for producers. It’s this idea that we can decrease water use without a huge loss in returns. Then at some point it starts to decline at a linear rate.”
(Family Features) Nothing says fall better than delicious, savory comfort foods and particularly those that are a snap to prepare. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average American spends about one hour per day engaged in meal preparation and cleanup. Want to beat the clock? Check out these solutions for busy families facing the time crunch.
A trip down the frozen food aisle is the answer for countless families when it comes to tasty dinners that deliver on quality, but don’t take a lot of time to cook. Using prepared proteins, such as fully cooked meats that are frozen (to lock in freshness), is a great way to reduce preparation time.
Products such as Byron’s Fully Cooked Pork BBQ (available at Sam’s Club) are among the easiest time savers, delivering authentic, slow-smoked barbecue with the convenience of heat-and-serve. These items also can add an unexpected twist to the dining occasion. Kimberly Sneed, who writes about family, mealtime and more on her blog, A Night Owl, shared some creative meal suggestions her family enjoys when the craving for comfort food hits.
“We love traditional comfort food favorites, but sometimes it’s fun to add your own personal touch,” Sneed said. “For example, my boys love pizza, so when the seasons change I swap out tropical toppings, like pineapple and ham, for savory ones, such as barbecue and caramelized onions.”
Adding such variety to the mealtime mix can introduce new, welcome flavors into traditional favorites. Families can spice up their go-to recipes any number of ways, such as using barbecue to top a potato, stuff a taco or stir into chili, without adding any additional time.
A simmering BBQ chili, in fact, is the perfect midweek meal for families looking for a fall-friendly dinner, without the fuss. Using a quality, fully cooked meat such as Byron’s, which is hickory-smoked, hand-pulled and expertly spiced, makes this a satisfying, stress-free meal to produce. “Dishes that are simple to prepare and easy to clean up are a mom’s dream come true,” said Sneed. “As a mother with a full-time job, I use recipes like this to save on both prep time and cleanup.”
For other savory comfort food recipes that make family mealtime easy, visit byronsbbq.com.
Thaw barbecue meat (ideally, overnight in refrigerator).
Saute diced onions over medium heat about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add green chilies and chili seasoning, stirring often. Stir in chili beans, tomatoes and barbecue.
Simmer over low heat until thoroughly heated (approximately 30 minutes), stirring occasionally.
Hastings, Neb. – The 23rd ranked team in the NAIA was all that and more on Sunday as the Lady Broncos of Hastings College downed McPherson 7-0. The ‘Dogs fall to 2-4-1 on the year with two more contests before they begin KCAC play.
“The ladies played hard today but unfortunately Hastings was just too much to handle,” said Coach Talley. “We played a very physical game on Saturday against AIB and it caught up with us today. We had our chances but couldn’t find the back of the net. Now we need to regroup from this loss and start preparing for two more back-to-back games this weekend to close out our non-conference schedule.”
Hastings scored their first goal nine minutes in and then another in the 18th minute; the final goal of the opening period came in the 32nd. Mac took four shots in the first half and another five in the second but were unable to make it past the keeper; four of their attempts were on goal. The Broncos came out and scored three times before the 60-minute mark and added their final goal with 15 minutes left in the match.
Eight MC players took shots on Sunday with Gabriela Navarro being the lone ‘Dog with two shot attempts; Navarro placed one on frame.
Sophomore goalie Caitlyn Blagrave tallied 15 saves in the 90-minute game.
McPherson travels back up to Nebraska for a couple more contests next weekend. The Bulldogs will play the College of Saint Mary on the 20th and Bellevue University on the 21st; both matches are set to start at 1:00 p.m. (CT)
Make sure to follow Bulldog Nation on Facebook (MCathletics) and Twitter (@MAC_Bulldogs)
McPherson College is a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference member school and a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
